Medieval Knight System: Building the Strongest Empire Ever! Chapter 39: Summoned by the Crown Prince

Whenever I had ti, I visited Bertheim’s mansion.

He’d asked to keep a lonely old man company, so I should go drink tea and chat with him. In truth, the reason I maintained this relationship with Bertheim was that I needed to get close to this walking treasury of connections. I literally had none.

"You still haven’t found Klugen?" I asked.

"I’ve sent people to investigate, but he seems to be hiding sowhere in the sewers. Searching any further would be too difficult, so I’ve given up for now," Bertheim replied.

"Soone who’s been in hiding for years won’t be easy to find."

After Günter von Klugen escaped, Bertheim had sent people to search, but nothing turned up. When they’d investigated the sewers, they found they’d been built during Roman tis, so there was almost no information about their exact scale or layout. In other words, an underground labyrinth.

I could easily find him using the Searcher Scouter, but honestly, I had no desire to face him again. I wasn’t foolish enough to risk my life over pride. Unless I ran into him sowhere by sheer bad luck, there wouldn’t be any reason to fight.

Anyway, the knight Bertheim had promised to introduce to was taking an eternity to arrange. He kept making wait. I didn’t know what kind of impossibly high-status family this was, but I was growing impatient. I needed to train Fühlen as soon as possible—that way, even if I encountered Klugen later, I wouldn’t get pushed around so pathetically.

"Just wait a bit longer. Things are more complicated than expected, so it’s taking ti."

"Is this person worth waiting this long for?"

"What if I stake this old man’s honor on it?"

You don’t really need to stake that much.

"I’ll wait patiently for the summons. Oh, could I ask for one more introduction?"

"Since I’ve made you wait, I can do that much. What kind of person?"

"My retainers can’t even write their own nas. If they’re serving nobility, shouldn’t they at least know how to read and write? I don’t care what it costs—I’d like an introduction to a good teacher."

Since I was tapping into his connections anyway, I might as well get a teacher out of it too. Bertheim introduced to a liturgical priest from the court clergy. He said he’d notify him through Göring beforehand, so I should visit Liturgical Priest Georg and hire one of his students as a teacher.

A liturgical priest was, as far as I knew, second-in-command of the court clergy, right? The person who presided over all the nation’s liturgies. Wait, was it really all right to just introduce soone of that rank? And wasn’t the court clergy openly opposed to ? I didn’t want to get dragged into trouble, so I declined.

"Don’t you have any less daunting connections?"

"Then look into students from the duchy university. Most students work as tutors for noble families to cover their tuition."

Hmm? That was a good idea, actually.

I’d look into it later.

But the next day, Göring, who arrived early in the morning, suddenly escorted to the royal castle. Why the royal castle all of a sudden? Did I have any reason to visit the royal castle? Except for my hereditary knighthood, there was currently no particular cause for to set foot in the royal castle.

Plus, with my status, I didn’t even et the qualifications for an audience.

You needed to be at least a decurion to reach the minimum threshold.

Even then, you had to wait several days before an audience was granted.

"I-I’m entering the royal castle for the first ti. What do I do?"

"Calm down, Ted. You’re not planning to embarrass Sir Wolfgang, are you?"

"Of course not! Huff! Huff!"

I’d brought Ted and Oscar as attendants. Maybe I should’ve just brought Oscar.

Why had Bertheim summoned to the royal castle?

Turning over various possibilities in my mind, I passed through stone walls so magnificent and massive they made feel small, and entered the wide garden within the castle grounds. In the middle of that garden, nine n were drilling in sync with commands shouted by their captain.

Ha! Ha! Ha!

They moved in unison, but it looked like they hadn’t been training long.

Bertheim was enjoying refreshnts in the cool shade. Beside him were two strikingly handso boys. Could those boys be the knights he was introducing to? Bertheim spotted and waved. Then the n who’d been training all stopped at once, and their gazes fixed on .

Rather embarrassing.

What the hell? Was this so new form of hazing?

"Welco, Sir Streit. Sorry for catching you off guard," Bertheim said.

"Marquis, what’s this all about? Summoning to the royal castle out of nowhere," I asked.

"There’s soone I want to introduce you to, so don’t worry too much."

Soone to introduce? If it was a noble Bertheim had to address with honorifics, it would have to be royalty, right? My gaze turned to the boy sitting at ease—a pretty boy who seed older than . Strikingly handso. The boy standing behind him was also quite good-looking.

Sabine would’ve lost her mind if she’d seen these two.

Both boys had a naturally aristocratic air about them.

I wasn’t bad-looking myself, but compared to these two, I definitely fell short. But I’d seen these handso boys sowhere before. Where had it been? Ah, now I rembered. They’d been a famous duo you’d inevitably cross paths with at least once when playing dieval Knight.

"I am this nation’s crown prince, Franz Ludwig von Altringen. This is my close associate, Leo von Verer. I’ve heard about you from the Marquis. They say you’re strong enough to have no equal in your generation?"

I’d never expected to encounter the crown prince duo, famous among players, this quickly. To begin with, a lowly hereditary knight who hadn’t even been knighted had no business receiving an audience with the crown prince. You needed to be at least a decurion to et the minimum qualifications.

Not just any noble could et the crown prince.

I simply hadn’t expected to et him under such unlikely circumstances.

"You overpraise , Your Highness. I’m rely a lowly knight who hasn’t even been knighted yet."

"If you were just an ordinary lowly knight, the Marquis wouldn’t have introduced you to . Admittedly, status was a considerable issue, but this isn’t an audience chamber—it’s a garden, so there’s no need to stand on formality. If you’re looking for sparring partners, how about testing yourself against my guard? Except for the guard captain, none have seen real combat yet. I’d be grateful if you, having been through fierce battles, could show them a thing or two," the crown prince continued.

The n training were guardsn—officially knighted knights and, in a sense, my seniors. But he was asking , not even knighted yet, to instruct them? The guardsn’s eyes held a mix of competitive fire and hostility as they looked at .

Naturally.

Being slighted by their lord like that, of course their feelings toward wouldn’t be warm.

This looked like it would turn into a fight, not a sparring session.

Had Bertheim and the crown prince conspired to arrange this little stage?

"Marquis, this is sowhat different from what I had in mind," I said.

"I’m sorry. I couldn’t find the opponent you wanted, so I had no choice but to introduce you to His Highness. And His Highness happened to be looking for talent like you," Bertheim explained.

Even so, wasn’t this a bit much?

The crown prince had said he wouldn’t worry about formalities since we were in the garden, but it was still an unofficial audience, and I was more flustered than anyone by this situation. It had been beyond anything I’d anticipated.

"Don’t be flustered. Think of it as a golden opportunity. Do you know how many nobles pay through the nose just to get acquainted with His Highness? Seize it."

"...You’re right. This would be an honor for soone of my standing."

"If it weren’t for the Marquis’s introduction, I wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of arranging this eting."

Bertheim had essentially handed the most valuable connection possible. If this was the person who’d beco the next Grand Duke, that was an extraordinary privilege. But I was still suspicious: why was Bertheim showing such generosity? Be wary of kindness without reason. That old adage flickered through my mind.

But regardless of Bertheim’s motives, it was undeniably an opportunity.

"Marquis, shall we make a wager?" the crown prince asked.

"Oh, a wager? Count in. I’ll bet one silver coin on Sir Streit," Bertheim said.

"...I was going to bet on him first. Then one silver coin on the guard. Leo, you bet too."

"I’ll also bet on the guard."

Now they were placing bets. Was the crown prince really this sort of character? I knew the crown prince duo had been famous among players, but unfortunately I didn’t know the specifics. I’d repeated only lord knight–related quests, so I’d skipped most royal castle quests.

Should’ve done the royal castle quests if I’d known.

Well, I’d never imagined I’d actually end up inside this dieval Knight world.

Just idle griping.

But suddenly the guards’ eyes blazed with a spark of an entirely different kind.

"Your Highness! If I defeat Sir Streit, please give that silver coin!" one guard shouted.

"That sounds good. I’ll give one silver coin to anyone who defeats Sir Streit," the crown prince announced.

"Wow! One silver coin! No more choking down black bread!"

"I’m first!"

Weren’t these n a little too excited about one silver coin? And black bread? The crown prince’s guardsn weren’t going around half-starved, were they? Facing the eager guard, I gripped the wooden sword handed to by a waiting attendant—a sensible precaution, since sparring with real swords would easily cause injuries.

Was it because I’d grown too accustod to real blades?

The wooden sword felt slightly off sohow.

...But how had I ended up here?